Differences between our RV life and living in a house

Today we have some random musings about our vagabond life-style. While musing, it seems like a good time to post more of the wildlife pictures we have been snapping here at the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge in the southern part of Oklahoma.

We are now in our fifth year of full-time travel, and we're still loving it! We remember living in a comfortable sticks and bricks house where everything stayed the same. We went back to the same location every day after work, and we took for granted that we would always have electricity that ran all of our appliances, and as much fresh water as we wanted from our faucets.

We also had memorized the channels for our favorite television stations, and we knew our telephones always worked. At home we could depend on high-speed internet where information was just a google away.

Our life is different now in so many ways. Our home is always moving to new locations, and some times we can't remember the name of our closest town. Because we're always looking for the bargain camping spot in the best location, we have different combinations of electrical, water, and sewer hookups at each location. Here at Wichita Mountains Wildlife  Refuge, we have only electricity. So our stay is limited to the tank-full of fresh water we brought with us, and the capacity of our gray and black water holding tanks.

We can't run to the nice visitor center for more water, because the entire refuge is under a boil-water order. So unlike our lives in a sticks-and-brick home, we are constantly adjusting our daily life to what our current limitations are due to our camping site. In this case, we will be very careful with the amount of water we use, taking short showers and washing dishes in a tub so the water can be poured outside.

We often have to watch our water or electrical usage to fit our camp site. If we have a 30 amp electric site (rather than the preferred 50 amp), we know we can't run the microwave and the air-conditioner at the same time, or the water heater and microwave, or the . . . That lower amperage of electricity will run our appliances, but just one big one at a time.

One current limitation that is hard to get used to is that we have absolutely no phone signal at our campground in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge. We can't make a phone call or even send a text from our home. Likewise, we can't use our cell phones as hot spots to give us access to the internet. There is no wifi in the refuge, so we are really cut off from the rest of the world here. In over four years of travel, we've only had a hand-full of times when we have had no cell phone service. So we are less practiced at dealing with this limitation.

In our five-day stay at Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, we can't count the number of times we have had questions like, "What's the weather for today?" or "How far away is . . ." or "What hours is that business open?" or "What kind of lizard is that?" and we couldn't instantly look at our phones to get the answers.

We have become so dependent on instant answers to so many of the questions we ask, that we think this limitation might be the most debilitating of all. We like to keep in contact with family and friends, and right now we can't call or text or send a message.

Now that we think of it, we lived without the internet and GPS not so many years ago. Mark quipped that we would need to travel with a set of encyclopedias if we kept having this connectivity problem. It wasn't so long ago that the family set of encyclopedias was our best source to find out about things we didn't know. My, how times have changed!

So every time we wanted to make a phone call or send a text, we had to take a drive up to a high point within the wildlife refuge. There we could also get enough of a signal to check email or google all those unanswered questions. Sitting beside the road in a wildlife refuge, we got some interesting pictures of the wildlife that meandered next to our vehicle.

An entire herd of bison came to visit us one day, grazing around our vehicle like we were just part of the landscape. These big guys are shedding their winter coats, giving them a patchy appearance right now. With temperatures in the 80s, it made it a little uncomfortable for all of us sitting on the side of the road.

One of our favorite places to hang out for a phone signal was close to the visitor center. The bison didn't seem to read the sign that the facility was closed for the day. They just ambled around the gate and took advantage of the lack of traffic to "mow" the yard close to the building.

We also got to witness nature in action, as this bull came bellowing up the road, obviously on a mission.

Then we saw another big bull approaching from the opposite direction, and we prepared to watch a bull fight near the car where the two paths intersected. It was a little anti-climactic as the two merely circled each other a couple times, and then laid down in the shade.

We're trying to see these up-close nature experiences as the positive side to having no phone signal. But the truth of the matter is that we prefer to be sitting at our lovely shaded campsite typing a blog, rather than roasting in the sunny car on top of the hill. 

We're very good at conserving water, and our 90-gallon tank of fresh water is still serving us well. We're loving our time at Wichita Wildlife Refuge, but we're finding that we are definitely spoiled to being connected to rest of the world through our phones as we wander His wonders.

The wonders of Charon's Garden Trail

With a beautiful blue-sky day, we were anxious to check out some of the trails at Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge. We plan to be here for close to a week, and it looks like there are more than enough trails to keep us busy. Our first morning we started off on the Charon Gardens trail.

We love the jumbled stacks of rocks that make these interesting mountains. We talked to other visitors from New Jersey and North Carolina and Texas, who were amazed to find this interesting landscape in Oklahoma.

About a mile into the hike, we arrived at the entrance to the boulder field. From here it doesn't look like there's a way to continue this hike.

But Mark is great at rock scrambling, and he found a way up and over those boulders. More importantly, he found a way to help Denisa to the other side as well.

Much of our hike took us beside a creek. Denisa is enjoying the view as she sits beside the little waterfall formed by the water cascading into the bowl.

This tall rock ridge serves as a perch for two of the named balanced rocks in the park.

That would be "apple and pear" perched on top of that high ridge.

We were hoping to see elk grazing on these hills further from the road, but our only wildlife sightings were of lizards.

In the course of our hike, we found many. Because they were sunbathing on the rocks, they were content to sit quietly and pose for pictures.

With such cooperation from the resident wildlife, of course Denisa took pictures of several.

We found out later that the reason we were seeing so many was indicated by their name. This is the COMMON collared lizard. Each one had some variation of this common collar.

It's hard to call a lizard pretty, but those perfectly formed polka-dotted scales on their legs,

and the interesting camouflaging on their tails make them interesting to look at up close.

At the end of the Charon Gardens trail, we are rewarded with views of the surrounding mountains, with a lake below us.

We think it should be named "Turtle Lake." We looked down from our perch high above and spotted this log with 25 turtles sunning themselves.

We even found a nice patch of wildflowers on that rocky hill top. After a nice rest in the shade for a lunch break, we are now ready for the hike back to the car.

We made some extra stops on the return hike. That included the spur trail to see Post Oak Falls. You probably won't be surprised to find that Mark scrambled up the rock wall for a bird's eye view from the top of the falls.

It's hard to find him, but he continued to scramble to the top of this rock wall. If you look carefully, you can see him in front of the tree at the top center of the picture below.

As temperatures neared 80 degrees, we were glad to stop in at one of the caves close to the trail. As we moved further into the cave, the temperatures dropped by twenty degrees.

That very big rock at the entrance is wedged into place by some strategically placed smaller stones. It's a good thing that Mark is holding it up while we are in the cave.

With such a cool rock to recline on, it seemed like a good place for a rest. This is the longest of the two hikes in the refuge that are rated as "difficult." We can tell that we are out of shape from our normal hiking conditioning.

By the time we got back to the car, we had hiked almost six miles, and we were hot and tired. But we were reminded that this Wichita Wildlife Refuge is a great place for seeing wildlife AND hiking. We have wandered into another of His wonders, and we are blessed that we get to live here right now!

Taking Refuge in a Wildlife Refuge

After our road trip to the panhandle of Oklahoma, we picked up our motor home that had been waiting patiently for us in Olney, Texas. Once again, we started traveling northward. We had a special stop planned for today. Two years ago, we met a gracious couple in our campground on the east side of Glacier National Park in Montana. They had visited this favorite park many times, and they immediately took us under their wing to tell us the best hikes and things to see. But more than that, they became our friends. Before they left, they had offered us one of the hand-made crosses that Dennis makes in his workshop back in Wichita Falls, Texas. Because we don't have a permanent yard to plant that cross, we gave it to Mark's parents.

The view out Mark's parents' living room window includes that white cross, seen on the upper right edge of the picture below. This is a great place to watch the world go by. When we took this picture last week in Beaver, that view included the Tom turkeys that were strutting their tail feathers as the sun was rising.

Our motor home trip would take us close to Wichita Falls, so we called to see if Dennis and Judy were home. We tried to come after lunch, but Judy insisted on feeding us. She's one of the best cooks we know, and she even sent home with us the banana cake and lemon cake balls she is holding. Dennis is holding one of the white crosses he gives away. He has now given away more than 6,500 crosses to people to put in their yards. Before we left, Judy also gave Denisa a special devotional book. We will continue to remember them and their special ministries as we read our devotional book together. What a special couple!

As we continued north from Wichita Falls, we found that the Red River has swollen from recent rains up river. That's much wider than when we crossed this same bridge yesterday in the car.

The Red River is the dividing line between Texas and Oklahoma, so the motor home officially crossed back into Oklahoma. We had to take this picture of the state sign, and that pretty crop of bluebonnets behind it as we sped down the highway. It looks like Oklahoma knows how to grow these delightful spring wildflowers too!

Our next destination is the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge near Lawton, Oklahoma. As we drove the motor home into the refuge, we were greeted by this longhorn-induced traffic jam.

As we waited for the rest of the herd to cross the road, we got our first view of some of the animals that will be our neighbors for the next few days.

As we pulled into our campground, we were greeted by another of the animals that live here at the refuge. We've had some loud and obnoxious neighbors in campgrounds, but this guy is a real turkey.

Arriving in the middle of the week to a first-come-first-served campground means that we had our choice of great places to park our motor home. With 23 electric sites, we were glad to find site #47 open. It's a large shaded site right on the lake with a level asphalt parking pad--we would say that this is the best camp site in the entire refuge.

This is a great place for a camp fire, and some smores!

Living in a wildlife refuge, we are excited about living with the animals. Sizable herds of bison are roaming the hills just down the road from our camp site.

It's an idyllic scene when you see one of these massive animals nibbling on wildflowers with those puffy white clouds in the background. It feels like we have wandered into another of God's wonders!

We wondered if the bison and longhorns got along well. This picture of the two herds together seems to prove that they are quite happy to share these wide open prairies with each other.

We're also seeing lots of deer around our campground--especially in the evening.

For some reason, they like to congregate near the road just as the sun is setting. This doe has that deer-in-the-headlights-look as we're trying to get back to our camping spot without hitting one.

Mark is great at spotting wildlife, and he spotted these two elk on the top of the neighboring mountain that first evening.

Mark also snapped this picture of a longhorn, perfectly centered in front of the setting sun the evening of our arrival. A wildlife refuge is a great place to take refuge, and we're loving it here in the Wichita Mountains of Oklahoma!

Road Trip to Four Celebrations this Weekend!

We were traveling through Texas when we realized that a nine-hour drive would allow us to have a four-celebration-weekend. We didn't want to drive the motor home that far, so we found an RV park where we could leave it. We felt good about the "Over Yonder RV Park" in Olney, Texas, and they gave us a reduced rate since we only needed enough electricity to keep the refrigerator running while we were gone.

This road trip will take us to the panhandle of Oklahoma. Beaver, Oklahoma is where both of us were born and raised, and where both of our Mothers still live. The first two celebrations of the weekend were birthdays. Denisa's Mother and Mark have the same birthday--just a few years apart. So after eating lunch out together, we had a double party celebrating Betty's 89th and Mark's 58th birthday.

You would think that an 89-year-old might have a hard time finding peers to invite to her birthday party. But we come from a long line of good genes, with longevity on both sides of the family. Seated together are friends and relatives including both of our Mothers on the right hand side of the couch. Since the birthday girl is the youngest one in this group, we figured the average age is well over 90.

Denisa's Mother was also glad to see that all three of her daughters made the trip to Beaver for her birthday party. 

After celebrating two birthdays, the third celebration of the weekend was Beaver's annual cowchip festival. In fact, this is a special day, since this is the 50th Cowchip Celebration in Beaver, Oklahoma. We started the day off with a parade that included a motorized cowchip. Notice that it is decorated with flies, and also a gold 5-0 for this special celebration.

For as long as we can remember, the next parade entry has adorned the main drag in Beaver. We've heard all the jokes about people driving through town and asking, "What's with the squirrel holding a cookie?" For the more discerning local, this is obviously a beaver holding a cow chip.

For us, the highlight of the parade was the herd of longhorns, making their way down Main Street.

The Cowchip Celebration includes a carnival, a 3K race, kid's games, barbecue, and vendors. We saw the Bull Bash that included some of the wildest bull riding we have ever seen. We also went to one of the adult contests where facial hair was on center stage. Awards were given for wildest, longest, and grubbiest, but we were there to cheer on our nephew on the right who won for "Best Mustache."

But no celebration would be complete without the world championship cowchip throw. We remember being a tad bit embarrassed when we were kids, and the winner here was asked to be on the Johnny Carson show. Here the contestants are choosing their chips from a wagon load of specially selected cow dung.  There are differing opinions on whether the larger or smaller cowchips are best for the competition.

It was hard to get a picture of the actual cowchip throw since it has been moved from the grandstands to this grassy field. With high winds blowing, it's hard to keep the chips from going out of bounds. We go to a lot of festivals, but this is the only one where spectators take the chance of getting hit by flying cow poop.

The festivities were capped off with some of the best fireworks we have seen in these parts. A Beaver high school graduate now puts on fire works displays for large celebrations all over the state, and he planned a special one for the 50th anniversary.

The fourth celebration of our weekend was the greatest, because on Sunday we celebrated Jesus rising from the dead on Easter. We went to church in the morning with Denisa's family, and church in the evening with Mark's family. In between we had a delicious Easter dinner with 16 family members!

We spent one day longer than we had planned on our road trip, because we also went to the funeral of one of Denisa's cousins. That brings to mind the fifth reason that we decided to make this long road trip. Mark's Father died last year on Mark's birthday. It's hard to believe that has already been one year ago. But Mark wanted to be with his Mother on that sad anniversary this year.

Our road trip also allowed a stop in Oklahoma City to visit our youngest son. He and his wife have a new golden retriever puppy, and we are impressed with his training.

After all that family time, we made the long road trip back to our motor home. Even though some parts of the area had gotten as much as five inches of rain, our home was high and dry. We were glad to be home, but also glad we made the trip for four celebrations in one weekend.